Murder Case

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT MURDER CASE

-- Deepa Bharath COSTA MESA -- An erroneous report from the Costa Mesa Police Department on Monday added a bizarre twist to an already strange attempted murder case. Police had said Miroslav Maric, 49, of Newport Beach, who was shot in broad daylight outside a fast-food restaurant in Costa Mesa on Friday, died Monday morning after he was declared brain dead and pulled off life support. On Tuesday, they retracted their statement, saying the information was incorrect and that Maric is still on life support in the intensive care unit at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana. The alleged shooter, Ramadan Dokovic, 42, of Downey, will be charged with attempted murder, said Costa Mesa Police Sgt. Don Holford.

Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against a Michigan convict who they say has been linked to the rape and murder of a pregnant Costa Mesa woman in 1988 through DNA evidence. Jason Balcom, 38, was serving a 30- to 50-year prison sentence in Michigan for rape and kidnapping when in 2004 DNA evidence linked him to a cold murder case in Costa Mesa, officials said. Prosecutors said on July 18, 1988, Balcom attacked a pregnant Malinda Gibbons in her home as she unpacked (she and her husband had moved to Costa Mesa from Utah two days earlier)

BRIEFLY IN THE NEWS Hearing begins in 1979 teen murder case A hearing started Monday in Riverside County to consider a request by the defense team of James Lee Crummel to admit evidence that could exonerate Crummel of charges that he killed a Costa Mesa teenager in 1979. The hearing will continue Thursday. Crummel was arrested in Newport Beach in 1997 on suspicion of murdering 13-year-old Jamey Wilfred Trotter. He has been in jail since, serving terms for molesting young boys.

Authorities have arrested a former NFL player and a woman who prosecutors said plotted to kill a Newport Beach father and businessman in 1994 for access to his beachfront home and $1-million life-insurance policy. Andrew Naposki, 42, was arrested outside his home in Greenwich, Conn., and Packard McNeal, 43, of Ladera Ranch, was arrested on suspicion of murder for financial gain in connection with the fatal shooting of Bill McLaughlin inside his Newport Beach home. New evidence prompted authorities to re-open the cold murder case, officials said.

"We're ready to bring the scows out and bring the dredgers out and start work, and you can't do that with half a million [dollars]." -- Dave Kiff, Newport Beach assistant city manager, on dredging the Back Bay. So far the city has nailed down only $500,000 of the estimated $24.5 million needed. "We tried to get balloons that said: 'It's a Boy,' but they were out. We want to be as embarrassing as possible." -- Danielle Lyons, 19, who was at Newport Harbor High School's graduation, cheering on friend Bryan White.

The murder trial of a Newport Beach man accused of robbing and killing a liquor store owner in 2007 should begin early next month, officials from the Orange County district attorney’s office said Monday. Weston Scott Kruger, 31, is accused of killing Sportsman Liquor Store owner Hao “Tony” Quang Huynh in July 2007. Sportsman Liquor Store is on Newport Boulevard near 28th Street in Newport Beach. Police said Kruger went into the store to buy cigarettes and, while there, hid a pornographic magazine in his shorts.

An Orange County Superior Court judge declared a mistrial Wednesday in the murder case against a Costa Mesa man accused of killing a woman in a car crash on Valentine's Day 2010. Gustavo Adrian Vega, 23, was ready for trial Wednesday morning at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana when the judge tossed out the case because two defense witnesses failed to show up. At about 2:30 a.m. Feb. 14, 2010, Vega, a former Orange Coast College student, allegedly ran a red light while driving drunk on Sunflower Avenue near South Coast Plaza and barreled into a car in which Cara Lee, 20, was riding.

A listing of special events to entertain you through the weekend and beyond. TODAY Scamper with a mouse. Kevin Henkes' storybook character Lilly the Mouse will visit story time at Borders Books, Music and Cafe at 1 p.m. at 3333 Bear St., Costa Mesa. Regular story times are 10 a.m. Wednesdays and 10:15 a.m. Fridays. Free. (714) 279-8933. SUNDAY Hear her hit high notes. Soprano Renee Fleming will perform at the Orange County Performing Arts Center at 2 p.m. as part of the Center's Voices in Song Series.

Hoag rated among top 5% of hospitals Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian is among the top 5% of hospitals nationwide, according to independent healthcare rating company HealthGrades. Hoag — one of 266 that received the Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence — was chosen from among nearly 5,000 hospitals in the nation that are not operated by the federal government, according to a Hoag news release. The study used Medicare data to track in-hospital complications and deaths, ranking hospitals based on how well their patients recovered compared to how patients' risk factors predicted they would fare.